I live in Montana, where it is often bitterly cold in the winter. In February of 1989, it was 29 below zero, and a long train was crossing the state and heading up the Continental Divide just west of town. When the over-worked heater went out in the engine, the engineers stopped the train in order to swap engines so they could have heat. They set the brakes, disconnected the train, swapped the engines, and then went to re-connect the train, only to find it……missing. As it turns out, brake fluid congeals at about 20 below zero, becoming useless. Montana Rail Link didn’t know that at the time, and neither did the two hapless engineers. So, 44 fully loaded rail cars rolled backwards out of control nine miles from the top of the continental divide, colliding with a side-tracked train right in the center of town.

It was 5:00a.m. and 29 below zero when all of Helena got rocked out of their beds by a cataclysmic explosion, catastrophic conflagration, and toxic cloud of fumes rolling across town. Every window was shattered for a mile in all directions. Thousand-pound pieces of train rained down upon the adjacent college and nearby business district. The power was out. The phones were dead. The police were unable to communicate with the firemen; the firemen couldn’t communicate with the railroad; and nobody was communicating with the citizens. It was a mess. A horrifying mess.

Living two miles from the wreck, my front door was blown open and I was rudely awakened to a house that had no light, no heat, and no phone. Seeing the glow rising from downtown, I knew something was very, very bad. I needed light, but all I could find was a couple of decorative candles. I knew I had a flashlight, but it was packed in the camping gear, and I needed a flashlight in order to find it. I tried to find a radio, but all my radios required electricity. Without electricity, the engine heater that kept the oil in my car from congealing and the battery from freezing was not functioning, so I went outside to start the car in order to keep it running in case I had to leave. I turned on the car radio and tried to tune into the Emergency Broadcast System but found nothing but static. All Helena radio stations were off the air. All my life I had grown up listening to the Emergency Broadcast System doing radio checks: “This is a test. This is only a test. If this had been an REAL emergency….” Now, it was a REAL emergency, and the Emergency Broadcast System, which was supposed to tell me what was happening and what to do, was no where to be found. As it turned out, the Emergency Broadcast System runs on electricity with a battery back-up, and the battery had gone dead within minutes at 29 below zero.

So, I did the only thing I could: I paced the kitchen floor, and waited for someone to tell me what to do.

It was only by great good fortune that no one was killed or injured that day, though the heart of my city was utterly shattered. By mid-morning, one Helena radio station was on the air providing a steady stream of information and directions. The Red Cross was asking people with running cars to help with evacuation since there were so many citizens, particularly college students and elderly, who had no heat at home and dead batteries in their cars. So that’s what I spent my day doing: shuttling bewildered, shivering, weeping people around town, while gawking at the damage done to the homes and businesses of my friends and neighbors.

This event had a profound effect on me. It was the first time I ever had to confront the fact that catastrophic things happen in the blink of an eye. It was the first time I ever realized how absurdly unprepared I was to face such an event. And most importantly, this was when my faith in “the authorities” to handle such a situation shattered. I was therefore faced with a choice: I could either depend on The Authorities to be better prepared in the next such catastrophe, or I could be prepared to take care of myself. Which did I want to do?

There are only two ways the pendulum can swing: There either will be a disaster, or there won’t. I have no control over this. But I do have control over this: I can either be prepared for disaster, or not. Therefore, there are four different ways this can play out:

If there is no disaster, and I am NOT prepared for a disaster, there’s a neutral result.

If there is no disaster, and I AM prepared for a disaster, there’s a neutral result.

If there IS a disaster and I am NOT prepared for a disaster, there is a NEGATIVE result.

If there IS a disaster and I AM prepared for a disaster, there is a POSITIVE result.

If you are one of the majority of people who are doing nothing to prepare, then you are, by default, choosing Option A or Option C. Because I am committed to the positive result of Option D, I continue my preparedness program perpetually. My goal in life is to encourage as many others to follow suit as possible. Will you be one of the people who, after a disaster, is able to pick up the pieces on your own? Or will you be one of those who sit around and complain that you’re not being rescued quickly enough?

Make your decision. Choose wisely.

[disaster-author]

Catastropherian Janet Spencer was featured on National Geographic’s “Doomsday Prepper” program. She lives and preps in Helena, Montana, where she is proprietor of the Armageddon Inn, “Your Shelter in a Sh!t Storm”. Find out more about her at CalamityJanet.com.

2 Comments on "The Helena Train Wreck"

MY NAME IS MIKE MCNELLIS.I READ THESE STORIES ABOUT THE TRAIN WRECK IN HELENA,MT 1989.MYSELF AND THE ENGINEER THAT MORNING WERE THE 2 IN THE WRECK.NO ONE ELSE WAS THERE SO IF ANYONE WANTS THE REAL FACTS TO WHAT HAPPENED FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME.IT’S HARD TO READ ALL THE ARTICLE’S ABOUT IT AND LITTLE TO NONE OF IT CORRECT…

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